Chocolate date slice

A few years ago, the man requested a chocolate date slice recipe from his mum as it was something that he enjoyed in his childhood. At that time, he used to bake the odd cake every now and again but I don't recall him ever making this slice. It had been filed away with other recipes that I flick through occasionally but it didn't really catch my eye until recently.

For quite a while I turned my back on baking cakes and other sweet things. I think it began after successive years of birthday cake failures which always resulted in a dash to the nearest bakery to save my butt. The stress involved with these encounters was more than enough to put me off for a while, however it also totally killed my confidence in this department. I developed a mindset that I wasn't able to bake cakes anymore and went on for many years without even trying.

A brand new kitchen and inspiration from blogs was exactly what I needed to get back into the swing of things. This year has seen me produce cakes, muffins, rum balls, choc-mint balls, jaffa balls and even a couple of batches of hot cross buns. Cooking meals still fulfills me a lot more than baking but I'm pleased that this monkey is off my back now.

Now for this recipe which is a fairly simple one. There were only a couple of non-vegan ingredients in the original recipe which were butter and one egg. These were replaced with nuttelex and flaxseed/water mixture. The only issue was when the flaxseed/water mixture was added to the lukewarm water with dates and nuttelex it didn't mix in smoothly and was rather gloopy. Next time I would add the flaxseed in with the walnuts or use a commercial egg replacer product like Orgran instead. Despite this hiccup the slice turned out just fine.

The man seemed quite pleased with his childhood slice although he isn't anywhere near as harsh a judge with sweets as he can be with other meals. I find it has more of a cake-like texture than other slices I have eaten previously. It is a very nice snack and I'm sure it will be baked again in the future. 

Chocolate Date Slice 
(adapted from Dollar Cook Book #2 published by Herald Sun circa 1970's)

1 cup chopped dates
1 cup water
1/2 cup dairy-free margarine
1 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place dates and water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the margarine. Allow to cool to luke-warm then stir in the sugar and flaxseed. (I would add the flaxseed mixture in with the walnuts next time).

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix through the dates, water and margarine. Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Spread into a 30cm x 20cm lamington tin lined with baking paper and cook for about 20 minutes.

Top with chocolate icing and sprinkle with coconut.